This Sunday is World Communion Sunday. It is the time when churches across denominations, countries and communities come to the Lord’s Supper together. Since the beginning of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the remembrance of the Lord’s Supper has been central not only to our heritage, but our weekly services as well.
I attended a Methodist seminary who conducted a chapel service each day of classes. In the United Methodist tradition, they partake of communion once a month. On a couple of occasions, Disciples students and/or faculty were invited to conduct the communion service. Many Methodist students commented to me, “If you really want communion done up right, have a Disciple do it.” This was a source of great pride on my part. Disciples really do focus on communion. As we join this Sunday with all sorts of our brothers and sisters, let us all remember the basic principle of the Disciples of Christ – “All are welcome at the Table” and all means all. I was conducting a funeral a couple of years ago and noticed several people were stopping by the casket to take a picture of themselves and the deceased – a “selfie” in other words. It wasn’t a solemn occasion; they were smiling, laughing and doing various hand gestures. All the while, the deceased was lying there in the casket. I spoke with the funeral director and asked him if this was some sort of new trend. He replied, “Oh yeah. Happens at every funeral now. There’s no respect for the person nowadays. Young people have just lost all sense of respect.” My reply to him was, “It’s not just young people. People in general have lost respect.” Have you noticed this as well? It seems there are no polite disagreements anymore – it’s either agree or it’s war.
In church, sometimes we mistake “respect” for “submission.” Respect means that we can disagree with each other as long as we are polite and not mean-spirited. The Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians said, “But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.” So let us respect one another – then they will know that we are Christians not only because of our love, but also because of our respect for all. It seems like every group of friends has one - the one guy that always has to have the bigger story. For my circle of friends, it was Bruce. If you got a good deal on an item and shared it with your friends, Bruce would always say, “Well I could have got that for half of what you paid.” Once, Calvin had gone on a fishing trip up to Canada with his family. He told us what a great trip he had and how beautiful it was. Of course, Bruce was quick to say, “Well I went out deep sea fishing not too long ago and caught a 500 pound Marlin!” Now the group knew Bruce had never been outside the metro KC area, but it didn’t matter. Bruce was Bruce.
What Bruce lacked was self-confidence. So he tried to make up for it by telling stories that were either not true or way out of proportion. Our passage this Sunday is about how the disciples were jockeying for “first place”, in other words, who was the greatest. When I read this passage, I think of Bruce. Perhaps the disciples lacked self-confidence, so they tried to make it up by being the best. Jesus saw through this and used a lesson to illustrate the point. It’s not about being the best; it’s about having the strongest faith you can have – regardless of what everyone else is doing. Have faith and try to be servant of all. Let the other person be the best; it’s not about winning, it’s about living out God’s word. I used to own a 1955 Chevrolet sedan. It was painted gold and I nicknamed it “The Gold Bomb.” It had a six cylinder engine, automatic transmission and the windows even rolled down - which meant it was “air-conditioned.”
One day I had stopped off at my friend’s house for a visit with him and his mother. When I left the house, I realized that my car was stuck in first gear. I decided to drive it all the way across town to check it at home. Upon arriving at home, I checked the transmission fluid to see where it stood. That was the problem – it didn’t have any. (By the way, I do not recommend doing this with a modern car; you could be purchasing a new transmission.) So for that day, I was stuck in first gear. Sometimes in the church, especially after a summer lull, we all get stuck in first gear. If we’re not careful and make sure that everything is where it should be, we’ll remain stuck. The challenge for all of us is to get ourselves into a higher gear. And now is the time. This Sunday, we’re kicking off the Christmas Adventures project. It seems like a long time until Christmas, but it’ll be here before you know it. Time to kick it up a gear and get going. What will you do this fall to help your church kick it up a gear? If you don’t help out, we’ll all be stuck driving along like a snail. |
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This blog consists of reflections written by the minister each week for the Sunday bulletin. We hope that you enjoy the musings! Archives
January 2020
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